Congratulations Carolyn on Winning USA “BEST BOOKS 2011” Award!

Congratulations Carolyn on Winning USA “BEST BOOKS 2011” Award!

Recently we got to know that Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a BookBuzzr Author won The USA “BEST BOOKS 2011” Award for best business book in the writing category for her new edition of The Frugal Book Promoter. Congratulations Carolyn!
(USABookNews.com, is the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses.)
We’ve invited Carolyn to share an excerpt of her chapter on awards from her award winning book The Frugal Book Promoter to help authors win awards galore! :)

Awards Are Publicity Gold

By: Carolyn Howard-Johnsonauthor of the multi award-winning book, The Frugal Book Promoter, now in its second edition

It is award season once again. It’s exciting to see many of my author friends’ books win, place, or show. I hope they remember that–way back when the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter was published–I told them their book doesn’t have to be a top winner for the success to be newsworthy.

Nothing has changed since then. Media editors still see awards as anything from a sure-fire feature story to a filler. But I fear that many authors still don’t utilize their awards to their fullest potential.

A list of things authors should do with their awards once they’ve won them appeared in the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter and, because that information is so important, it appears in the just-released second edition, too. Here is the list authors (or folks in any business, really!) will want to keep for the day when they have an award they can use to help with their branding.

Add your new honor to the Awards page of your media kit. If it’s your first award, center it on a page of its own. Oh! And celebrate!

Write your media release announcing this coup. (See Chapter Eleven of the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter to learn to build a targeted media list and Chapter Twelve to learn to write a professional media release.)

Add this honor to the biography template you use in future media releases—the part that gives an editor background information on you.

Use this information when you pitch TV or radio producers, editors of newsletters and newspapers. and bloggers. It sets you apart from others and defines you as an expert.

If your book wins an award, order embossed gold labels from a company like http://labels-usa.com/embossed-labels.htm. You or your distributor can apply them to your books’ covers. If you win an important award, ask your publisher to redesign your bookcover or dustcover to feature it a la the Caldecott medal given for beautifully illustrated children’s books. If you don’t know this medal, visit your local bookstore and ask to see books given this award. It’s one of the most famous and most beautifully designed.

If your book is published as an e-book only, ask for the contest’s official badge or banner to use. If they don’t have one, make one of your own using http://bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php.

Your award should be evident on everything from your business card to your checks and invoices. I use the footer of my stationery to tout my major awards.

Don’t forget to put your award in your e-mail signature.

Frame your award certificate and hang it in your office to impress visitors and to inspire yourself to soar even higher!

This is just a blog-size excerpt from a complete chapter on awards in The Frugal Book Promoter, including information on how to improve your chances of getting an award. Carolyn brings her experience as a journalist, publicist, retailer, and author of her own books to the how-to books she writes for authors. She is celebrateing the release of the 2nd edition of this USA Book News and Irwin award-winning book, and now the 2nd edition now carries its own honors. Learn more about the whole series at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

Awww, what a nice Thanksgiving gift! Thanksgiving here in the USA is about being grateful. This made me realize how grateful I am for Bookbuzzr. And even the page colors are kind of Thanksgiving-ey! (-:

I do hope you’ll tweet this. I’m pretty excited about this second edtion of my popular Frugal Book Promoter. (-:

Christopher. Ha! Never researched that. Are there any awards for the worst written? The worst published? The worst cover? Maybe someone ought to start a Mr. Blackwell type of list–Tens Worst (fill in the blanks) instead of 10 Worst Dressed. (-:

Christopoher, we must convert you to having a shot at the “Best Marketed.” Atually the New Mellennium Indie awards have one of those! Honest, there’s a way to market for every book and every pocketbook and every personality. It’s just a matter of finding the right ways to do it and you’ll love it!